Lazarenko's supporters expect him to be released in May, allowed live in U.S.

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Deputy head of the Hromada Party Oleh Oleniuk said he hoped that former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko would be released in May after six months in a detention facility of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Adelanto, California.

"We are hoping that the issue of the status of Pavlo Ivanovych [Lazarenko] will be resolved by the end of the month and the court will grant him the right of temporarily living in the United States. He cannot return to Ukraine, there are no relevant conditions," Oleniuk told Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

Lazarenko's plans after his release are unknown yet. The newspaper reported that he was most likely to devote all his free time to his family.

It has been reported that Lazarenko, who served over 10 years for financial fraud, was released on November 1, 2012, from the U.S. prison of Terminal Island.

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office has said repeatedly that as soon as Lazarenko returned to Ukraine, he would be arrested. Lazarenko's lawyers say that he is a suspect in around 50 criminal cases in Ukraine related to bribery, embezzlement and abuse of office.

It emerged on November 8, 2012, that Lazarenko had filed a motion with the San Francisco Immigration Court asking to provide him with a temporary status permitting him to be in the United States.

Lazarenko was accused of laundering money obtained illegally and transferring it to foreign accounts in 1994-1999. In August 2006, a Californian court sentenced him to nine years for money laundering and other crimes.